1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to data processing systems and more particularly to apparatus and methods for maintenance and for verification of the accuracy of the operation of data processing systems. With the disclosed apparatus, the data processing system can be initialized to any arbitrary predetermined state, a selected sequence of operation can be executed, and the resulting state of the data processing system can be determined.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the related art to provide register devices in data processing systems in which the register cells can be optionally configured in a series arrangement. The ability to reconfigure the register cells permits the testing of the register device by external signals. For example, when the register unit is reconfigured in a series arrangement, the signals stored in the register cells can be extracted and analyzed, or in the alternative, predetermined signals can be entered in each cell, and when the unit is reconfigured as a register for normal data processing operations, the register will be initialized with the predetermined signal configuration.